TRENDS IN INTERNATIONAL MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE STUDY (TIMSS)

Indicator 17 uses data collected as part of the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). Under the auspices of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), TIMSS assessed the science and mathematics achievement of students in 41 countries in grades 3, 4, 7, and 8, and in the final year of secondary school in 1995. Information about how mathematics and science learning takes place in each country was also collected. TIMSS asked students, their teachers, and their school principals to complete questionnaires about the curriculum, schools, classrooms, and instruction. The TIMSS assessment was repeated in 1999 in 45 countries at grade 8, and again in 2003 in 25 countries at grade 4 and 45 countries at grade 8 so that changes in achievement over time could be tracked. Moreover, TIMSS is closely linked to the curricula of the participating countries, providing an indication of the degree to which students have learned the concepts in mathematics and science that they have encountered in school.

2003 TIMSS

For the 2003 assessment, the international desired population consisted of all students in the country who were enrolled in the upper of the two adjacent grades that contained the greatest proportion of 9- and 13-year-olds at the time of testing (Populations 1 and 2, respectively, except only the upper of the two adjacent grades). In the United States and most countries, this corresponded to grades 4 and 8. In all, 25 countries participated at grade 4, and 46 countries participated at grade 8. (A list of participating countries is available on the TIMSS website at http://nces.ed.gov/timss.)

Approximately one-third of the 1995 4th-grade assessment items and one-half of the 1999 8th-grade assessment items were used in the 2003 assessment. Development of the 2003 assessment began with an update of the assessment frameworks to reflect changes in the curriculum and instruction of participating countries. “Problem-solving and inquiry” tasks were added to the 2003 assessment to assess how well students could draw on and integrate information and processes in mathematics and science as part of an investigation or in order to solve problems.

For further information on TIMSS, see http://nces.ed.gov/timss.